http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/national/c-9504/ucu-hit-by-resignations/

A respected Philosophy lecturer this week became the latest academic to leave the University and College Union over its controversial conference motion which backed a boycott of Israel.

Eve Garrard, a lecturer at Keele University and outspoken critic of the boycott, wrote in a letter to UCU General Secretary Sally Hunt that she was rescinding her membership because of the “shame and embarrassment of belonging to an institution which is willing to discriminate against Jews.”

She follows Sarah Annes Brown, Professor of English at Anglia Ruskin, who also resigned this week objecting to the lack of a ballot of all members on the issue.

The motion, passed in May, called on members “to consider the moral and political implications of educational links with Israeli institutions, and to discuss the occupation with individuals and institutions concerned, including Israeli colleagues with whom they are collaborating”.

Hundreds of UCU members are believed to have resigned since the union first backed boycotts in 2005. A spokesperson for the Stop the Boycott Campaign said: “It is appalling that Jewish academics and university staff no longer feel they can be members of their trade union because it is promoting a discriminatory boycott policy.

“It is not evident that UCU is doing anything to prevent these resignations; people will ask – does the leadership care about the loss of Jewish members?

“As we warned, the boycott of Israeli academics is also hounding Jews out of UCU, leaving them vulnerable and isolated in the workplace. UCU has a moral and legal responsibility to tackle this problem – so far their leadership have stuck their heads in the sand and sought to bury it in bureaucracy.”